A common problem experienced by many individuals relates to the entrapment of a garment, such as pants and skirts, either beneath a wearer's footwear or between the wearer's foot and the wearer's footwear, especially when backless shoes are worn. Such entrapment adversely affects the appearance of the wearer and of the garment itself, and further, involves the risks of soiling and/or damaging the garment. As such, the beneficial prevention of such entrapment would alleviate the undesirable affect on the wearer's appearance, and would further avoid the costs associated with cleaning, repair, or replacement of garments which have been soiled or damaged from such entrapment.
Accordingly, garment stiffening devices have been proposed and implemented in an attempt to provide a solution to the problem of garments becoming trapped beneath a wearer's foot or footwear. These stiffening devices work by attachment of a rigid (at least compared to the garment fabric) member that prevents the garment from bending near the hem, whereby the hem cannot become trapped. Such stiffening devices, however, inevitably fail to provide an adequate solution, especially for highly flexible fabrics and/or garments that are intended to flow or exhibit movement, because addition of the rigid member necessarily alters the structural characteristics of the garment. In many instances, such structural characteristics may not be altered without making the garment unsuitable to the wearer's needs or preferences.
Thus, it is clear that what is needed is a garment accessory that is capable of preventing entrapment of the garment beneath a wearer's foot or footwear that does not adversely affect the structural characteristics of the garment, whereby the aesthetic attributes of the garment are not altered.